"The gold backing for the AUD would stop it from going through the floor should there be an outright economic war between the US & China"
A global trade war would cause a global economic contraction leading central banks to resort to a policy of competitive devaluations except in our case where our RBA would be helplessly fighting a terrible intense appreciation pressure for our currency, one of the very few if not the only one pegged to the price of gold. People in the tradable sector would be echoing the cross of gold speech: " you shall not press down on the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold.”
Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech: Mesmerizing the Masses The most famous speech in American political history was delivered by William Jennings Bryan on July 9, 1896, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The issue was whether to endorse the free coinage of silver at a ratio of silver to gold of 16 to 1. (This inflationary measure would have increased the amount of money in circulation and aided cash-poor and debt-burdened farmers.) After speeches on the subject by several U.S. Senators, Bryan rose to speak. The thirty-six-year-old former Congressman from Nebraska aspired to be the Democratic nominee for president, and he had been skillfully, but quietly, building support for himself among the delegates. His dramatic speaking style and rhetoric roused the crowd to a frenzy. The response, wrote one reporter, “came like one great burst of artillery.” Men and women screamed and waved their hats and canes. “Some,” wrote another reporter, “like demented things, divested themselves of their coats and flung them high in the air.” The next day the convention nominated Bryan for President on the fifth ballot. "
